This past week has been awesome for fans of the MechWarrior series, with the franchise getting a giant robot sized reboot. Keeping in the theme of talking entirely way too much about giant robots, MechWarrior 4 is going to be getting released for free to start drumming up excitement for robots shooting each other with lasers. However, that’s not the only game being made freely available, as Bethesda releases Daggerfall for everyone to grab.

Check all of this out in greater detail in ALT+F4, after the jump.

-MechWarrior Announced, Hell Freezes Over, or at Least Flushes Coolant

Seven years of bitterness are drawn to an abrupt end, replaced with a sense of awe and expectation, for many, feelings that rivals anything conjured up by any other series out there. Once again the opportunity will be available to don your neural interface helmet and strap into the cockpit of a Battlemech. MechWarrior has officially been announced and will be taking the form of a franchise reboot.

A six page interview over at IGN has revealed the licensees of FASA properties from Microsoft, Jordan Weisman’s Smith & Tinker, has a MechWarrior game currently in development at Piranha Games. According to the article the game has been in development since October, which is surprising considering the clearly in-engine proof of concept looks like it nails the feel of the universe and pegs game play right where it needs to be.

The game is in co-development for the PC and the 360, while this may induce the desire to spit bile at one party or the other, the interview indicates that they’re dedicated to making it work despite the tendency of the series to use every button on the keyboard. And of course, as a reboot, the game is going to take place around 3015, earlier than previous MechWarrior outings, which will be changing the available Battletechs and leaving out some mainstays of the series, such as the Timberwolf.

I strongly suggest reading the interview, right here.

[Source: IGN]

-MechWarrior 4 with Expansions Goes Free

According to Battletech.com, MechWarrior 4 and the accompanying expansions are going to be made freely available very soon through MekTek.net.

“We are very pleased to announce that Smith & Tinker has authorized us (MekTek.net) and our professional studio (MekTek Studios) to distribute and package a worldwide free release of MechWarrior4 and all of its expansions.”

MekTek is responsible for the release of content updates to the Mechwarrior 4 game series. Their updates added an incredibly extensive laundry list of Mechs to the game.

While many dislike MechWarrior 4 for various reasons, it still lets you stomp around in a giant robot and blow stuff up. Also, if you aren’t familiar with the series as of yet and want to get in on it so you can sound snooty when the new game comes out, this is a perfect way to do it.

Check MekTek.net for the release, should happen soon.

[Source: Battletech]

-Bethesda Hands out Daggerfall, Free

In celebration of the 15th year of the Elderscrolls series, Daggerfall has been made freely available by Bethesda. The 13 year old second entry in the series has a landmass and area to explore that has yet to be bested by any newer iteration of the Elderscrolls series, kind of a daunting thought when you think of the size of Morrowind and Oblivion.

As a word of caution, the game hasn’t been retooled to function straight out of the installer in an XP, Vista, or W7 OS, so you’re going to have to do some work. There’s a 21 part installation and play guide that accompanies the download.

Grab the classic game right here.

And be sure to read the instructions, right here.

-Weekend Steals

• Steam:

The deal on Steam this weekend is racing game, GRID, for a 50% reduced price, clocking in at $14.99.

Also discounted on Steam is the new indie game BrainPipe, for $11.99, marked down from the full price of $14.99. I don’t know much about this title other than that it’s got a fairly hilarious description and has picked up a couple of awards for excellent audio.

• Impulse:

Over at Impulse all Meridian 4 titles are on sale, a list too long to include. Some of the more known titles include Vigil: Blood Bitterness,Space Trader – Merchant Marine, Alpha Prime, and more. While they may not be the most popular titles ever, reception has been alright for most of them, and it’s some good cheap gaming.

• Direct2Drive:

Direct2Drive is offering the original ARMA as their deal of the week, which prices the regularly $29.90 game come in at $14.95, not a bad deal.

Also on sale at Direct2Drive is the Oblivion GOTY Edition Deluxe, which includes the Shivering Isles expansion as well as all the DLC. It’s on sale for $17.95 down from the normal $29.95.

If you need me, I’ll be in the garage building a Mech cockpit to live in once the new game comes out.

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Tags: ALT+F4, D2D, Daggerfall, Elderscrolls, Impulse, Mechwarrior, Sales, Steam

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under News, PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.